Sermons Experimental, Title page – Errata
Sermons Experimentall: ON PSALMES CXVI. & CXVII. VERY VSEFVLL FOR A VVounded Spirit.
By William Slater D. D. ſometimes Rector of Linſham; and Vicar of Pitmiſter, in SVMMERSET-SHIRE.
Publiſhed by his Son WILLIAM SLATER, Mr. of Arts, late Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge, now a Prieſt, and Preacher of the Goſpel in the City of Exeter, in DEVON-SHIRE.
Davidica intelligit qui Davidica ſentit.
O come hither, and hearken all ye that feare God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my ſoul. Pſalm. 66.16.
LONDON, Printed by Iohn Raworth, for Nathaniel Butter, and are to be ſold at his ſhop, at the ſigne of the Pide-Bull, neer Saint Auguſtines Gate. 1638.
To the Reader.
Chriſtian Reader,
AS from me theſe well meant Papers have been ingenuouſly imparted to the publike view, ſo bee thou intreated as ingenuouſly on thy part to give them welcome: I can indeed no otherwiſe call them mine, than as a labored tranſcription from a darke Originall hath made them ſo. 'Twas not for that I long'd to ſee my Name in Print, (the common ſurfet of the Age) nor that I would pretend the eager importunity of others, the uſuall Plea of moſt for this forwardneſſe) but meerely for the Vtility of their owne Matter, that I was ſo ſtudious of their Evulgation; Which I conceived to be moſt ſeaſonable, for that the intention of them is not by any needleſſe ſpeculations to poſſeſſe the head, or any intricated Controverſies (which like Rebekah's Twinnes too often make a*Gen. 25.22. Strugling in the Churches Wombe) to perplexe the braine, but by a ſweet Devotion, in their fit Application, to ſalve, and cheere, and ſettle the heart. I have not ſeldome beſtowed my thoughts upon the obſervation, how the licèt on the one ſide, and the fortaſſe on the other, hath been too apt to breed that monſter in the Theologie, or to uſe Bernards word,*Bernard. ep. 190 fol. 248. L. M. Stultilogie rather of the vulgar multitude, that the beſt Religion is Neutrality, as if they minded to joyne iſſue with thoſe Academicks of old, whoſe profeſsion was to doubt of all things, but to reſolve of nothing; or if as Meteors floating in the aire, they wave, not wholly in irreſolutions, yet whiles the mind is fetch'd off from the Scylla of Superſtition, inſtantly they are caſt on the Charybdys of Prophanenes: Means they have, as Eſay's waters that covered the Sea,*Iſa. 11.9. overflowing, to (Know) the Truth; The cauſe of all theſe vitious propenſions in them is that of Saint Paul, they do not (*2 Theſ. 2.10. Love) this Truth, to their Salvation: VponUpon which ground, that*Biſh. Hall. Mirrour of Devotion hath informed us, that Gods Schoole conſiſts as much, if not more, of Affection, than of Speculation. Wherfore to warme thoſe cold affections, and to transform our Knowing to more (*2 Tim. 3.5. Power) of Godlineſse; I thought good to offer to a generall peruſall theſe pious Dictates of this Authors grayhead, each of them having beene firſt experimented in his owne ſoule, and actuated by his owne life: Let them make the ſame impreſsion, which the latter words of a dying Saint (for ſuch were theſe) are wont to make upon thee: And ſith they ſhew themſelves in publike but as Poſthumes, raiſed as it were out of almoſt eleven yeares obſcurity, as Lazarus from the Grave, and ſo as He, they walke foreign, but in their*Ioh. 11.… Grave-cloaths onelyonly, and ſeeme by reaſon of their long lodging in the duſt, to reſent ſomething of the earth, and to need ſome ſpices of a trimmer and more poliſhed veſtment; Know, that howbeit the pencill was perchance bequeathd to me, yet becauſe the Hand of that Apelles, which drew this picture into theſe firſt colors was abſent; I durſt neither my ſelfe adventure, nor ſuffer any elſe to bee dawbing, or painting on of any other, that might not bee right and proper to the lineaments of the originall Pourtrayour: Lay on but thine owne Chriſtian Candor only, and all is well. In hope whereof I commit thee to the Lord, and am
Thine in our Common Saviour, WIL. SCLATER. Exon. Iun. 2. 1638.
Errata.
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